Vandervoort was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1][2] She is the daughter of a Dutch father and a Canadian mother. In the first weeks of her life she contracted meningitis, resulting in a severe sickness that lasted a few months. Her parents were told she was not going to survive.[9][10] Growing up, Vandervoort was involved in several sports such as football, karate (second-degree black belt),[1][2][8] basketball, tennis, gymnastics, and baseball. She has a sister named Sarah[1][5] and she is related to Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent.[11][12]

In 2010, Vandervoort appeared in the two-part miniseries Riverworld in which she plays Jessie Machalan, the fiancée of war correspondent Matt Ellman who wakes up after death on a planet populated by everyone who has ever lived on Earth.[14] In 2011, she starred in the thriller The Entitled, alongside Ray Liotta and Kevin Zegers.[2][15]

In October 2011, she posed for PETA as part of the "Exotic Skins" campaign[16] and in 2014, she appeared nude again for an ad that protested against the keeping of marine mammals in captivity.[17] In 2012, she had a small role in Seth MacFarlane's hit comedy film Ted, playing Mark Wahlberg's coworker Tanya.[2][5]